(Lisa)

The sun clawed its way over the horizon. A murder of crows circled above the Redwood Forest. The wind howled restlessly, twisting the echoes of a distant summoning chant.

Lisa hunched her shoulders as she leaned against the battlement overlooking the southern front. She adjusted her eye shift and swallowed nervously. Two days had passed since the enemy’s last attack. During that time, the Shadow Lands had not been idle. They had constructed a massive ring of stone pillars. The white granite columns were covered with blood runes. Dozens of cloaked figures chanted around the newly constructed summoning circle near the edge of the forest.

“Rose, did you notice the size of that evocation circle?” Lisa glanced over her shoulder.

Rose shrugged and continued to clean her teeth with a toothpick.

A gust of wind blew Lisa’s hair into her eyes, and she hastily pushed it back. “The symbols on those pillars look like an aberration of Sprite runes.”

Rose scoffed. “Someone went overboard with the blood decorations. If you ask me, I don’t think Esmeralda got any hugs as a kid.”

Lisa snorted and shook her head. “That’d be a lot funnier if they weren’t about to summon a dragon.”

Amplified voices resounded over the gusts of wind. The chanting continued to rise as it neared its crescendo.

Lisa’s heart thudded in her chest and fear crept up her spine. She had heard that invocation a decade ago. She closed her eyes and uttered a prayer to Cea’Nia.

(Ivan)

War gongs thundered throughout Stoneridge. A sense of impending doom settled over the city.

“Get the ballistae ready! Prepare the smashers,” Ivan bellowed.

Sentries hustled behind him. Defenders carried giant bolts to their positions. He watched as soldiers without range weapons moved to the cover of the nearest towers.

“Go for the eyes!” Toby shouted.

“Shoot it in the mouth,” someone else yelled.

“Run for cover if it heads your way,” Ivan continued to issue orders.

“Don’t waste arrows on the body,” Toby cried out. “Remember, only magical weapons can penetrate dragon scales.”

Ivan lifted his spyglass, adjusted the lens, and focused on the summoning circle.

The shadowy vortex in the center of the ritual was slowly expanding. Glowing amber eyes with vertical slits peered through the portal.

Rot and Ruin… A dragon…

Several Shadow casters collapsed as the ritual neared its completion. Ivan’s hope that the summoning would fail was short-lived as he watched the thrumming shadowy vortex finish expanding and stabilize.

A massive creature emerged from the portal. The dragon flexed its wings and roared.

Large scales, like rows of overlapping shields, covered its body. Savage bony spikes protruded out of its spine and the front of its wings.

Its claws are longer than my legs! Ivan gulped.

He heard Toby gasp. He did not know that dragons could get this big. The beast was at least fifty feet long and each wing was double that.

The dragon moved out of the shadows.

Blood-red scales?

“What in the abyss is that?” a soldier cried out.

“Look at the scales, they’re red.”

“Rot and Ruin, that’s gotta be an Infernal Dragon.”

“How do you kill a monster like that?”

“I’m sure it bleeds like the rest of us. We’ll make a pincushion out of it.”

“Yeah, it’s not that bad. My ex is bigger and scarier.”

A chorus of nervous laughter erupted.

Ivan scrambled to recall what he had read about Infernal Dragons, which was not much. One tome had mentioned that a few casters had glimpsed immense dragons with red scales during the summoning of demon hounds. That was pretty much it.

Through the spyglass, Ivan watched the beast at the edge of the forest. The dragon clawed the ground. Smoke snaked out of its nostrils. Its intelligent eyes scanned the clearing. The amber slits narrowed as a cloaked figure approached it. The figure removed her hood.

The Shadow Queen!

Many spoke of her beauty, but to Ivan, her flat expression and ghostly white skin made her look lifeless. She was so different than her sister. Jane was vibrant and full of life.

Queen Esmeralda kept walking until she stood directly in front of the summoned beast. The dragon lowered its head. She placed her hand on its scales and the beast shuddered. She spoke to it. The dragon turned its head and glared at Stoneridge. Ivan could feel its fury across the battlefield.

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The beast looked up, roared, and sent a torrent of fire into the sky. It crouched down and extended its wings. With a powerful thrust, it surged off the ground and took to the air. It rose higher and higher, before it disappeared into the clouds.

“Keep your eyes peeled!”

Everyone watched the sky, holding their breath.

“Here it comes,” Toby bellowed.

The dragon tore through a cloud and dove toward the city. A jet of blazing fire erupted from its gaping maw. From the ground, it looked like a fiery comet.

“Aim the bolt throwers.” Soldiers turned the ballistae and took aim.

“Fire,” Toby yelled.

Twang! Swish!

The monster barreled through the barrage of arrows and blasted a section of the wall. Soldiers that had been too slow to reach the protection of the tower were incinerated. Scorched skeletons crumpled onto the stone walkway.

A Lightning Strike blasted the dragon as it started to rise. The creature roared but appeared unharmed.

Nice try, William. Ivan knew that the spell had come from where his brother and aunt were stationed.

Sentries that survived the brunt of the attack were doused with water and carried to the ground level of the tower.

“We need more healers,” someone yelled above the screams. Ivan saw Puffer Gritts tending to one of the injured.

“Bring water,” Puffer shouted.

“That thing will be back at any moment,” someone barked. “Reload.”

Ivan watched a colorful bird with gaudy plumage fly over the inferno left by the dragon.

Woosh! Hiss!

The flames winked out.

That must be Rose…

All that was left in the wake of the fiery destruction was charred cobblestone and melted armor.

“The fire incinerated our arrows before they could reach the beast,” Toby grumbled. “If only we had some enchanted arrows…”

At that moment, the ground shook and trembled. Ivan’s eyes widened and he braced himself.

“What in Tor’Sal’s name is going on?” Toby cried out.

There was another violent tremor.

“Look… Over there!”

A crack appeared in the middle of the battlefield. The rift split into a web of winding fissures. The ground bulged after each quake, before it finally ruptured. A Stone Giant surrounded by a geyser of golden sand burst through the crack.

The Stoneridge ramparts erupted with cheers. Soldiers raised their spears and shook their fists.

Toby elbowed Ivan. “That must be the giant that they summoned three weeks ago. Take that, you lousy lizard!”

Ivan stared at the massive earth titan. Its bulging veins of lava throbbed with power. The giant homed in on the abyssal monster. It raised its massive hammer and bellowed a challenging roar at the Infernal Dragon.

Ivan’s Giant Steel blade thrummed on his hip.

The red-scaled beast screeched with fury and dove toward its ancient enemy.

“Wow, that dragon looks pissed,” Toby blurted. “Those two must have history.”

“Every summoning tome lists them as primeval foes, but no reason is ever given for their enmity,” Ivan explained.

“That red scale is colossal. It’s almost twice the size of the Stone Giant. Do you think our giant can take it?”

“I hope so. Giants tend to have the advantage against the smaller green scales. Their stone-skin armor is resistant to fire. Still, this dragon is massive.”

The dragon dove and bathed the giant with a torrent of fire. The ground was scorched but the stone titan remained unharmed.

The dragon bellowed and circled back around. The scaly beast extended its claws and dove again. This time, it barreled straight into the rock behemoth. The ground shook as the creatures collided. The beasts rolled on the ground, viciously bashing, and clawing. They screeched and roared as they thrashed each other.

The dragon used its size to pin the giant on its back and moved in for the kill. The stone titan shoved its forearm into the gaping maw. The dragon clamped its jaws down and thrashed back-and-forth, trying to tear off the arm. The giant lifted its hammer and smashed the dragon again and again. A blow finally hit its scaly head.

“It’s hammer time!” someone roared.

The dragon flapped its wings and lunged backwards. The massive hammer had battered one of its wings and cracked some of its scales.

The chest of the Stone Giant was shredded, and molten rock trickled through the cracks. Its left arm dangled uselessly.

Ivan gasped and leaned on the battlement. Soldiers around him cried out. The fight had moved closer to the city walls.

The dragon spewed another jet of fire as it cautiously circled its foe.

“Ooh, the dragon is afraid of that hammer,” Toby said. “It busted its wing and smashed its scaly head real good. Oooh, look at the Shadowlanders… They’re pulling their forces back.”

“They don’t want to be anywhere near that fight,” Ivan replied. “They’ll get trampled.”

The dragon crouched down and extended its battered wings. It vaulted and attempted to get off the ground, but it crashed down next to the eastern gate.

“That wing is mangled.” Ivan nudged Toby.

“Yeah, that dragon is grounded.” Toby loaded his bow. “Archers!” he bellowed. “Aim for the eyes.”

A volley of arrows bounced off the dragon as it kept on moving. Still, it looked up and hissed.

The stone titan rushed forward, lifted its hammer, and lunged. The dragon twisted and smashed its spiky tail into the wrist of the giant. The hammer was batted out of its hand, and they crashed into the southern gate.

The beasts thrashed amidst twisted metal and falling debris. The gate was demolished. Soldiers tumbled from the wall. Arrows continued to rain down on the dragon.

The Stone Giant lunged out of the rubble and attempted to move away from the gate. The dragon’s tail smashed into it. The giant was flung against the wall.

Ivan felt the impact, even though he was a few hundred feet away. He braced himself. The walkway shook and the wall cracked.

Locked in combat, the beasts pounded each other. Ivan leaned over the battlement and watched as they exchanged savage blows. They cracked another section of the wall and flattened the side of the moat, sending water shooting skyward. The giant’s legs buckled, and it fell against the wall. The dragon pounced and clamped its jaws around the giant’s neck like a vise.

Sharp Reason heated up and began to glow. Ivan placed a hand on the pommel of his blade. An image of a Stone Giant tempering the sword in a fiery forge flashed through his mind.

Family! the sword spoke to him, and the word resounded in his head.

A surge of power flowed from the blade into Ivan. With only the outline of a foolhardy plan that William would have been proud of, Ivan raced down the walkway. A strange sensation coursed through his body. His heart pounded in his chest. The torrent of energy continued to pour from Sharp Reason, propelling him forward faster and faster.

What am I doing? he thought but kept on running.

Sharp Reason jabbed him with another memory. He kicked the release lever of one of the smashers and leaped up to the top of the wall.

Woosh!

The rope uncoiled as the metal head of the smasher plummeted. It collided with the dragon, bounced off and swung sideways along the wall. Ivan crouched down, seized the rope with one hand, raised his sword with the other, and vaulted off the wall.

The dragon was right below him as he plummeted down. At the last moment, he released the rope and gripped Sharp Reason with both hands. He landed on top of the dragon’s head and drove his blade into the massive skull, straight through one of the cracked scales. He rammed his sword all the way down to the hilt. Determined to do as much damage as he could, he braced his body against the dragon’s horns and slammed his boot against the pommel of the sword.

Thwack!

The dragon convulsed and started to collapse. Ivan yanked his blade out and jumped away from the falling beast. He hit the ground, rolled onto his side, and rose to one knee in a low crouch. He was about to stand up when he was struck by a wave of agony. It was like liquid fire had been poured into him. He opened his mouth to scream but there was only silence. His muscles spasmed. His skin blistered and grew anew. He felt like a weapon that was being reforged. His eyes clamped shut as the searing heat blazed through his body.